Interesting quick conversation among creative leaders about the merits of campaigns in this day and age. Luckily, the group quickly settled on the fact that it isn’t about the word campaign, but about doing something to change how brands tell their story.
My favorite was Jimmy Smith in this video who just said it like it is without reading too much into a useless discussion about terminology. However, it is quite understandable or even useful to make things into adversaries, as in this case campaigns. Sometimes it helps getting to new ways of doing things.
Via Tim Büsing’s personal viewing suggestion. Thanks Tim!
Check out the video from 13th Street Universal, where they explain their latest campaign to ‘involve their audience like never before’. This is one of those promotions that seem to have everything but the kitchen sink thrown in - augmented reality, smartphones, location-based experiences, real-world interaction, scavenger hunt/gaming mechanics and social networking.
I like the tech, and the experience sounds highly engaging, but I’m left wondering: how does this idea achieve any scale? The depth of experience can’t really be shared effectively with video units like this, and they’re clearly not going to send every potential audience member to Berlin. Perhaps they are counting on PR coverage to get people to tune in to a more generalized version they’ll release later? Or they imagine that the winners will be influential enough with their friends to spread the word? Or maybe they are only picking winners with high Klout scores?
In this TED video, Deb Roy talks about how by taping almost everything that is said or done in his his house, he assembled a rich dataset that captured (among other things) deep insight into how/when his son learned words.
Of course, this kind of research can start people thinking that “I don’t want to record everything in my life!” but I think the implications more far-reaching than privacy concerns alone.
More than anything, I’m fascinated about the possibilities of video and audio data mining in order to study human behavior. The sheer volume of data available through continuous capture lends itself to using regression and other modeling tools to identify patterns that are too subtle for mere observation to pick up on.
1. His presentation shows what is possible in terms of re-creating the real world using very flat-looking tools like overheard video recorders. It creates new possibilities in terms of monitoring behavior through truly non-obtrusive means - increasing the validity of the results. Naturally, I don’t imagine this to be fool proof, as some people might never really ‘get used’ to being taped constantly.
2. The idea of creating a permanent memory bank can be considered to be a family service - allowing families that live great distances from their younger generations to peek into developments (especially major life moments) from afar.
3. I like the fact that he spent time talking about context for learning. It is amazing to see the possibility to model both by location and ‘actor’ - i.e., knowing which combinations of people, situations and places encoded new information in his child’s development.
4. Naturally, as a marketer I’m fascinated to understand how conversations can be triggered by interaction with content, whether online or on TV, and being able to analyse how these different media interact with a family has my mouth watering.
The first movie ever to have its premiere online: YouTube’s “Life in a Day”. If you don’t know what it is about, well, last year YouTube invited everybody in the YouTube community to film your life in one day, (or was it one day in your life?) no matter what was it about nor the format. From more than 4,500 hours of video, the final cut is a funny/sad/inspiring/touchy movie of 1:30 hours.
The film debuted in the Sundance Film Festival on January 27th with general acclaim. The film is produced by Riddley Scott and distributed by National Geographic.
You can watch it online today at 19:00 CET
You can see the repetition of the premiere in YouTube at its official channel
BMW is releasing four short films throughout February about “mobility.” The expertly-produced videos feature a variety of experts waxing poetic about what the future will hold for us.
Feb 1st: THE NEW CITY - How the way we live will impact the way we move.
Feb 8th: THE FUTURE JUST ISN’T WHAT IT USED TO BE - An evaluation of where we are now and where we thought we would be.
Feb 15th: REINVENTING MOBILITY - How technology will change mobility in the future.
Feb 22nd: HOW WE’LL LEARN TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE FUTURE - A look at things to come and a future of possibilities.
You can check out the trailer now and their videos as they are released on bmwactivatethefuture.com
Forgive me for the philosophical rant. It’s one of those foggy days in Frankfurt, and I get philosophical when it’s foggy outside.
Apart from being a nice animation showcase, for me, the below move immediately became a metaphorical insight for how some agencies work (or try to work).
Mostly, the creative process of getting to ideas (new ideas, that is!) resembles being blindfolded because you usually don’t yet see the solution. It takes guts to venture out and begin the process. Still: how, where and when ideas come to you is usually random, uncontrolled, and, well, blind. Plus, a lot of the times, even when you suddenly see the idea, it is hard to reproduce how you got there and you can never use the same methods of getting there twice. You just don’t know. It’s not linear, not straight.
Meanwhile, though, we’re being asked to walk in straight lines (metaphorically speaking) by the client’s briefing or constraints, always tugging at us and trying to fence us in, in order to (or so they say) reach certain objectives at the end of that straight line.
Unfortunately, if we continued this simile based on the outcome of the movie, it would mean that we never quite reach those objectives because we end up walking in circles instead.
Unless of course…
… we stubbornly believe that objectives aren’t the point to begin with, but rather that being creative itself is because, screw it, straight is boring anyway and great creative is all about not being boring. So there!
Or, we lift the blindfold by using strategic tools and techniques that help us see the straight line and walk it.
The moral of it for me is: a good creative process does both. Neither is it about just lifting the blindfold of seeing the straight line of the purported solution (which is rarely creative), nor is it about doggedly walking in creative circles in the hopes of sudden epiphany revealing itself before the creative mind (which is creative, but, let’s not muddy the issue, falls into the domain of uncompromising artists, not communication artists).
Maybe it’s about seeing what you can see, but not just to see the straight line (and then walk it), but also seeing the creative opportunities lying within walking the circles. Use your insights as a conscious permission or even exhortation to allow yourself to venture off and walk in circles.
Because, as most people would agree, sometimes what’s at the end of the line isn’t the best solution anyway. Rather, it may be hidden in a stump somewhere. *THUD*
A lovely selection of Christmas music using iPhones and iPads at North Point Community Church. Yeah - it’s a little gimmicky, but they really did a good job picking out the perfect apps to pull this off. Enjoy!
